In the decades after America’s founding and the establishment of the Constitution, did the nation get better, more just, more democratic? Or did it double down on violent conquest and exploitation? Reported, produced, written, and mixed by John Biewen, with series collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. The series editor is Loretta Williams. Interviews with Robin Alario, Edward Baptist, Kidada Williams, and Keri Leigh Merritt. Music by Algiers, John Erik Kaada, Eric Neveux, and Lucas Biewen. Music con...
Feb 05, 2020•42 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast In the summer of 1787, fifty-five men got together in Philadelphia to write a new Constitution for the United States, replacing the new nation’s original blueprint, the Articles of Confederation. But why, exactly? What problems were the framers trying to solve? Was the Constitution designed to advance democracy, or to rein it in? By producer/host John Biewen with series collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with Woody Holton, Dan Bullen, and Price Thomas. The series editor is Loretta Will...
Jan 22, 2020•47 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast In the American Revolution, the men who revolted were among the wealthiest and most comfortable people in the colonies. What kind of revolution was it, anyway? Was it about a desire to establish democracy—or something else? By producer/host John Biewen with series collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with Davy Arch, Barbara Duncan, Rob Shenk, and Woody Holton. Edited by Loretta Williams. Music by Algiers, John Erik Kaada, Eric Neveux, and Lucas Biewen. Music consulting and production hel...
Jan 08, 2020•46 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Our season-long series will touch on concerns like authoritarianism, voter suppression and gerrymandering, foreign intervention, and the role of money in politics, but we’ll go much deeper, effectively retelling the story of the United States from its beginnings up to the present. Through field recordings and interviews with leading thinkers, we’ll tell under-told stories and explore critical questions like—How democratic was the U.S. ever meant to be, anyway? American democracy is clearly in cr...
Dec 18, 2019•3 min•Transcript available on Metacast In our Season Three finale, co-hosts Celeste Headlee and John Biewen talk about where American culture goes from here, sexism-wise. And we hear from scholar Melvin Konner, who argues that we are in fact witnessing—and bringing about—“the end of male supremacy.” Music by Alex Weston, and by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Music and production help from Joe Augustine of Narrative Music. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Dec 12, 2018•31 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast Host John Biewen dips into the world of sports talk radio, where guys talk not just about sports but also about how to be a man in twenty-first-century America. What John finds is more complicated than he expected, with revelations both encouraging and sobering. With co-host Celeste Headlee and experts David Nylund and Terry Real. Music by Alex Weston, and by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Music and production help from Joe Augustine of Narrative Music. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.or...
Nov 28, 2018•38 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast Writer Ben James and his wife Oona are raising their sons in a progressive and “queer-friendly” New England town. They actively encourage the boys to be themselves, never mind those traditional gender norms around “masculinity” and “femininity.” All was well. Until the elder son, Huck, went to sixth grade. Story by Ben James, with hosts Celeste Headlee and John Biewen, and psychologist Terrence Real. Music by Alex Weston, Evgueni and Sacha Galperine, Blue Dot Sessions, and Kevin MacLeod. Music a...
Nov 14, 2018•55 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast Lewis Wallace, female-assigned at birth, wanted to transition in the direction of maleness—in some ways. He shifted his pronouns, had surgery, starting taking testosterone. None of that meant he wanted to embrace everything that our culture associates with “masculinity.” Story written and reported by Lewis Wallace, with co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee. Music by Alex Weston, Evgueni and Sacha Galperine, and Kevin MacLeod. Music and production help from Joe Augustine at Narrative Music. L...
Oct 31, 2018•38 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast American history—law, economics, culture—has built different notions of masculinity (and femininity) for people of varying races and ethnicities. A trip through a century of pop culture and the stereotyped images that white supremacy has manufactured and attached to Asian and African American men. With scholars Tim Yu and Mark Anthony Neal and co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee. Music by Alex Weston, Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Music and production help from Joe Augustine at Narrative Mus...
Oct 17, 2018•45 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast Several years after Janey was sexually assaulted by her former boyfriend, Mathew, she told some of her closest friends, and her mother, what Mathew had done. Janey was so troubled by her loved ones’ responses, or lack thereof, that she went back to them years later to record conversations about it all. In this episode: Janey’s story, and philosopher Kate Manne, who coined the term “himpathy” in her 2017 book, *Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny. *With co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee. To h...
Oct 03, 2018•51 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast Do nations fight wars because men are naturally violent? Or do societies condition men to embrace violence so they’ll fight the nation’s wars? Along with co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee, this episode features reporting by Barry Lam of the Hi-Phi Nation podcast, with scholars Joshua Goldstein of American University, Tom Digby of Springfield College, and Graham Parsons of the United States Military Academy, aka West Point. Music by Alex Weston, and Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Music and p...
Sep 19, 2018•42 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast The #MeToo Movement has shed a harsh light on sexual harassment in the workplace. Just how bad, and how pervasive, is sexism on the job in the U.S., from day-to-day expressions of disrespect all the way to rape? Spoiler: It’s bad. Reported by Ibby Caputo. With researchers Hannah Riley Bowles of Harvard Kennedy School, Meg Bond of UMass Lowell, Peter Glick of Lawrence University, and Mily Treviño-Sauceda of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas. Thanks to Tena Rubio for production support. Voiceover by ...
Sep 05, 2018•53 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast The struggles against sexism and racism come together in the bodies, and the lives, of black women. Co-hosts Celeste Headlee and John Biewen look at the intersections between male dominance and white supremacy in the United States, and the movements to overcome them, from the 1800s through the 2016 presidential election. Guests include scholars Glenda Gilmore, Ashley Farmer, and Danielle McGuire. Music by Alex Weston, and by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Music and production help from Joe Augusti...
Aug 22, 2018•47 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast A few hundred years ago, the great thinkers of the Enlightenment began to declare that “all men are created equal.” Some of them said that notion should include women, too. Why did those feminists—most of them men, by the way—lose the fight? How did the patriarchy survive the Enlightenment? Co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee look into these questions, with historians Londa Schiebinger of Stanford and Toby Ditz of Johns Hopkins, and sociologist Lisa Wade of Occidental College. Music by Alex...
Aug 08, 2018•34 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast For millennia, Western culture (and most other cultures) declared that men and women were different sorts of humans—and, by the way, men were better. Is that claim not only wrong but straight-up backwards? Co-hosts Celeste Headlee and John Biewen explore the current state of the nature-nurture gender debate, with help from Lisa Wade of Occidental College and Mel Konner of Emory University. Music by Alex Weston, and by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Music and production help from Joe Augustine at N...
Jul 25, 2018•33 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast Launching our Season 3 series, co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee look at the problems of male supremacy. And we visit Deep Time to explore the latest scholarship on how, when, and why men invented patriarchy. Featuring Meg Conkey of UC-Berkeley, Mel Konner of Emory University, and Lisa Wade of Occidental College. Music by Alex Weston, and by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Music and Production help from Joe Augustine at Narrative Music. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choice...
Jul 11, 2018•38 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Scene on Radio opens its Season 3 series, MEN, with this preview. Host John Biewen introduces the series with series co-host Celeste Headlee. Music Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Theme music by Alex Weston. Music and production help from Joe Augustine at Narrative Music. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jun 27, 2018•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast A father turns on a recorder while tucking in his 7-year-old, having no idea he’s about to capture a poignant growing-up moment in his son’s life. (Advisory: This episode is not suitable for some young children.) Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Dec 13, 2017•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast The concluding episode in our series, Seeing White . An exploration of solutions and responses to America’s deep history of white supremacy by host John Biewen, with Chenjerai Kumanyika, Robin DiAngelo, and William “Sandy” Darity, Jr. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 24, 2017•44 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast When it comes to U.S. government programs and support earmarked for the benefit of particular racial groups, history is clear. White folks have received most of the goodies. By John Biewen, with Deena Hayes-Greene of the Racial Equity Institute and recurring series partner Chenjerai Kumanyika. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Aug 09, 2017•48 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast For Eddie Wise, owning a hog farm was a lifelong dream. In middle age, he and his wife, Dorothy, finally got a farm of their own. But they say that over the next twenty-five years, the U.S. government discriminated against them because of their race, and finally drove them off the land. Their story, by John Biewen, was produced in collaboration with Reveal . Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Jul 26, 2017•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast For years, Myra Greene had explored blackness through her photography, often in self-portraits. She wondered, what would it mean to take pictures of whiteness? For her friends, what was it like to be photographed because you’re white ? With another conversation between host John Biewen and series collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jul 12, 2017•40 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast For hundreds of years, the white-dominated American culture has raised the specter of the dangerous, violent black man. Host John Biewen tells the story of a confrontation with an African American teenager. Then he and recurring guest Chenjerai Kumanyika discuss that longstanding image – and its neglected flipside: white-on-black violence. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jun 28, 2017•46 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast The story of Bhagat Singh Thind, and also of Takao Ozawa – Asian immigrants who, in the 1920s, sought to convince the U.S. Supreme Court that they were white in order to gain American citizenship. Thind’s “bargain with white supremacy,” and the deeply revealing results. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jun 14, 2017•38 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast In 1919, a white mob forced the entire black population of Corbin, Kentucky, to leave, at gunpoint. It was one of many racial expulsions in the United States. What happened, and how such racial cleansings became “America’s family secret.” The history of Corbin as presented by the Corbin city government, with no mention of the 1919 racial expulsion. Elliot Jaspin’s book, Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansings in America Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/a...
May 31, 2017•29 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast Scientists weren’t the first to divide humanity along racial – and and racist – lines. But for hundreds of years, racial scientists claimed to provide proof for those racist hierarchies – and some still do. Resources for this episode: Fatal Invention , by Dorothy Roberts The History of White People , by Nell Irvin Painter Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
May 17, 2017•49 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast “How attached are you to the idea of being white?” Chenjerai Kumanyika puts that question to host John Biewen, as they revisit an unfinished conversation from a previous episode. Part 7 of our series, Seeing White. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
May 05, 2017•14 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast When it comes to America’s racial sins, past and present, a lot of us see people in one region of the country as guiltier than the rest. Host John Biewen spoke with some white Southern friends about that tendency. Part Six of our ongoing series, Seeing White. With recurring guest, Chenjerai Kumanyika. Image: A lynching on Clarkson Street, New York City, during the Draft Riots of 1863. Credit: Greenwich Village Society of Historical Preservation. Shannon Sullivan’s books, Revealing Whiteness and ...
Apr 26, 2017•40 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Growing up in Mankato, Minnesota, John Biewen heard next to nothing about the town’s most important historical event. In 1862, Mankato was the site of the largest mass execution in U.S. history – the hanging of 38 Dakota warriors – following one of the major wars between Plains Indians and settlers. In this documentary, originally produced for This American Life , John goes back to Minnesota to explore what happened, and why Minnesotans didn’t talk about it afterwards. Image: The Minnesota State...
Apr 12, 2017•1 hr 3 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast “All men are created equal.” Those words, from the Declaration of Independence, are central to the story that Americans tell about ourselves and our history. But what did those words mean to the man who actually wrote them? By John Biewen, with guest Chenjerai Kumanyika. Key sources for this episode: Nell Irvin Painter, The History of White People Ibram Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning The Racial Equity Institute Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Mar 30, 2017•37 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast 
